Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) – American specialty retailer – casual fashion – youth – opened in Tokyo

Once popular but now dominated by less expensive fashion stores (UNIQLO, Zara, H&M)

A&F targets teenagers – view as unique and cool

Japan high expectations of having “all-American” experience – 700 stood in line and $550,000 in sales
first day

A&F did not last long in Japan market – current brand posititoning has less relevance to the youth than
be4 – too strict dress code – “sexualized” marketing strategy

Charged shoppers in Japan nearly double its american prices (61.7% found a bit high, 18.3% too high,
less than 20% found prices were on target)

A&F retained “all-american” positioning instead of adapt to cultural expectation like other foreign
retailers – A&F retail staffs couldn’t speak the language and were unaware of the accpeted cultural
norms of Japan – strategies sucessful in United States is failed in Japan

Same hurdles A&F faced when it expanded to Singapore

Success in Shanghai – opned in 2014, be the 2 nd largest apparel market – social media impressions

Asion consumer behavior is very varied and diverse in itself – the preferences differ across different age
groups and regions – difficult for retailers to focus only on a particular age groups

Consumers will change their preferences and shop other brand when outgrow the style in their age
group – A&F also aware the pullback in consumer spending in 2014 is an ongoing challenge.

Consumer market:

US – largest apparel makret in the world, with retail sales at clothing and accessories stores totaled
approximately 259 billion U.S dollars (2017) and 368 billion in 2019.

Japan – Third largest apparel market , annual retail sales were stable around 66 billion U.S dollars
between 2015 and 2019. 62.1% women’s wear, 29% men’s wear, 9% children wear.

Consumer Preferences:

US – their choices are individuality, they seek for successful image  brand conciousness.

They seek for novelty – lastest items in stores – uniquenuiess, omnichannel retailing, convenience

Japan – They stick to their cultural influence, loyal to brands they trust, looking for new, expensive and
quality products

Recommend: A&F is lacking the connection with Japanese customers

 Promote Japanese model image instead of American, especially female model as women are the
most purchasing clothes.
Since Japanese seek for expensive and quality product  A&F can show their quality on media
advertisement

With high context of culture and society homogenous, A&F may need to hire local employees to
contribute their knowledge of consumers’ behavior.

The development of customers’ survey/support is also suggested, which helps A&F to dig into
Japanese’s feels and needs about the products so that they can adapt the situations.

Reference:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/279735/global-apparel-market-size-by-region/

https://www.statista.com/topics/965/apparel-market-in-the-us/

https://www.just-style.com/analysis/japans-apparel-market-key-selling-and-sourcing-
trends_id137204.aspx#:~:text=Japan%20is%20one%20of%20the,States%20(US%24284bn).